David Stearns and Craig Counsell Skip Town

I wrote last November about David Stearns stepping down from his position as the President of Baseball Operations of the Brewers.  The speculation at that time was that he would quietly wait out the remaining year of his contract in 2023 and then sign with the Mets in 2024 since he is from New York, and that proved to be exactly what happened.  On literally the first day of the offseason, the Mets held a press conference for his signing.  One of Stearns' first orders of business was to fire manager Buck Showalter, who was only one season removed from a 100-win season but led the Mets to a very disappointing 2023.  This all led to further speculation that Stearns and Brewers manager Craig Counsell would be reunited in New York, as Craigers' contract expired after the end of this season.  However, no matter who is at the helm, history has repeatedly shown that "the Mets are gonna Met."  They instead went the route of hiring a manager with zero experience for practically nothing to lead the largest payroll in North American sports.  The Cubs immediately swooped in and signed Counsell - despite already having a manager - to a 5 year, $40 million contract, which now makes him the highest paid manager in baseball.

Now that I've had some time to reflect on both of these signings, I can't objectively say I'm super surprised nor do I blame either of them.  Am I disappointed?  Of course.  But in both Stearns and Counsell's cases, both of them had reached kind of the pinnacle of what they were going to achieve in Milwaukee.  That's just the sad and honest reality of being in the smallest market in baseball.  To both be in cities with seemingly endless resources, coupled with their talent, is going to give them the best chance to consistently win and most importantly to win the World Series.  For a team like the Brewers to not only remain competitive for such a long period of time - pretty much the entirety of the Stearns/Counsell era - but also to make the playoffs in 5 of the past 6 years is nothing short of remarkable, and a lot of that credit is owed to those two men.  I had heard a stat on a podcast shortly before Counsell signed with the Cubs in which they were trying to quantify a WAR-type number for what Counsell as a manager contributes to a team in terms of wins, and the number he came up with was 6 WAR.  I'm not going to pretend that I understand how WAR is calculated, but accounting for 6 wins by yourself is the difference between making and not making the playoffs just about every year.  Stearns is going to be able to help Steve Cohen spend money responsibly and efficiently given his background, and Counsell is going to be able to steer the ship for the Cubs and masterfully manage their bullpen.  I think I was a little bit more surprised with the Counsell signing than Stearns, only because I thought he would either step aside or remain with the Brewers given his family situation, but looking back at it objectively now, the Cubs make a ton of sense.  It's 90 minutes away, he knows the division, they have a huge payroll, and Chicago is actually closer to some of his kids in college than Milwaukee is.  He's able to have kind of the best of both worlds in being close with his family, while also setting the market for what managers deserve to make and proving he can win on the big stage.  Counsell is now the highest paid manager since Joe Torre in his years with the Yankees, and in today's age of $300, 400, 500 million contracts, that is kind of astounding.

I wish anyone reading a very happy, healthy, and safe holiday season!  Pitchers & Catchers report in 72 days, and I expect I'll have an announcement on my/our 2024 trips around that time.

Tour 2023: Arizona Fall League Home Run Derby

All photos of AFL HR Derby at Sloan Park available on Flickr.

Our final game of our jam-packed Tour 2023 was the AFL Home Run Derby at Sloan Park in Mesa.  Sloan Park is the relatively new Spring Training home of the Chicago Cubs, located just west of their former home at Hohokam which is now inhabited by the Oakland A's (which I visited in 2019).  This park has also hosted the Mesa Solar Sox of the AFL since the park's inception in 2014, and on this particular weekend hosted the biggest events of the Fall League calendar - the homerun derby and the Fall Stars Game.  We were planning on attending both of these events when we originally planned this trip, but unfortunately the schedule changed after we booked our flights and the Fall Stars Game moved to Sunday, the day we both flew home.  Personally I enjoy derbies much more than the actual all-star games, so this was the event I was more excited about anyways.  The derby was jacked up to a whopping $20 for this special event and we headed straight towards the outfield berm in left field when we got inside.  Sloan Park is the largest park in the circuit at a 15,000 capacity, but I never would have guessed that since the overwhelming majority of people in attendance were in the outfield as we were.

We didn't get to see as much of Sloan Park as we would have liked since we made a bee-line directly to the outfield, but from the looks of it, it is following the trend of a lot of the Grapefruit League parks that look to mimic the shape and feel of their major league tenants - a "Wrigley Field West" of sorts.  It had similar dimensions with the same deep outfield corners as Wrigley, it had some "rooftop seating" in the outfield to mimic the rooftops on Waveland and Sheffield Streets in Chicago, the same green seats and green painted structure, and even a replica of the Wrigley Field marquee.  Had this park not been in the desert, I would have fully expected to see ivy on the walls as well.  I think given the fact that it was trying to recreate a smaller Wrigley Field, it made the park kind of ordinary and simplistic in its layout.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it made it less memorable than some of the other newer parks and made it not as nice as I was expecting.  This was the one park of the week where I think being there for an AFL game as opposed to a Spring Training game negatively skewed my opinion.  It was still a great place to watch the derby, and I felt just like I was in the bleachers at Wrigley on that giant berm that was packed with fans on this night.  Much like at the bleachers at Wrigley, there were a couple of idiots that had to be escorted out.  A couple of dudes wearing GoPros were jumping in front of children left and right to snag homeruns and had literal backpacks full of balls before security finally stepped in to remind them they were grown adults and asked them to leave.

The AFL Home Run Derby had a similar format to the format that has been adopted by MLB and many other leagues in recent years, namely that rounds are timed rather than based on a number of "outs."  I love this format, as it creates less down time and more home runs, which has certainly been a goal of baseball lately.  One slight nuance to the AFL rules that I also loved is that two finalists advance to a championship matchup based on a cumulative total of two rounds.  This means that you get to see every hitter at least twice, it avoids dragging out the event and tiring out hitters, and it also avoids the common occurrence of somebody putting up a monster first round total but still not advancing.  Kala'i Rosario of the Desert Dogs/Twins ended up winning on a very impressive effort.  He finished with 25 total homeruns as well as the longest homer of the night, estimated at 465 feet.  He really impressed us in Glendale on Thursday and we were excited to see him listed as a participant at the derby, and he did not disappoint.  Damiano "Chicken Parm" Pamelgiani was leading after the first two rounds with 17 homers, and 2nd place was a 4-way tie between Ivan Melendez, Kyle Manzardo, Jase Bowen, and the aforementioned Rosario.  This led to a one-minute swing-off for the 2nd and final spot in the championship round, which was won in a walk-off fashion by Rosario over Bowen with 10 seconds left on the clock.  Pamelgiani chose to hit 2nd in the final round, and that proved to be a mistake as he lost 6-5.  In addition to winning the Derby, the Hawaii native Rosario also finished the season tied for the league lead in homers with 7.  Wes Clarke of the Saguaros/Brewers also participated and mashed a paltry 6 total dingers in his two rounds, although he did manage to crush a hot dog during one of his timeouts.

Following our visit to Sloan Park, I have now officially completed the Cactus League/AFL Tour, which is the only league outside of MLB for which I have been to every ballpark.  With that being said, I would rank the parks in this order:

1. Camelback Ranch
2. Salt River Fields at Talking Stick
3. Surprise Stadium
4. Hohokam Stadium
5. American Family Fields of Phoenix
6. Sloan Park
7. Tempe Diablo Stadium
8. Goodyear Ballpark
9. Scottsdale Stadium
10. Peoria Sports Complex

I would highly recommend the Arizona Fall League to any rabid baseball fan and especially to anybody who enjoys going to the Cactus League.  If you love Spring Training, but you also want cool evening temperatures, smaller crowds, and something a little bit more affordable, then this is the league for you.  The two of us spent a grand total of $112 on 4 AFL games and probably $20 apiece per game in concessions, and we've definitely had trips where we spend that much on one person for just one game.  It was a long wait into the year for our Tour 2023 trip, but well worth it.  It was awesome that we got to extend the season by a few days, and it makes Tour 2024 already that much closer.

park rankings and statistics:

aesthetics - 8
views from park - 4
view to field - 7 (largest park in the league)
surrounding area - 3 (nothing in immediate vicinity but 5 minutes from downtown Mesa and Tempe)
food variety - 5
nachos - 5
beer - 4 (points deducted for no Old Style)
vendor price - 8
ticket price - 8
atmosphere - 9
walk to park - 3
parking price/proximity - 10 (adjacent lot for free)
concourses - 7
team shop - 3 (points deducted for very little generic AFL gear at the jewel event)

kids area - n/a

best food - Chicago Dog
most unique stadium feature - replica Wrigley Field marquee
best jumbotron feature - player stats

best between-inning feature - live music by the Chocolate Fountain Experience

field dimensions - 360/410/360

HOMERUN DERBY PARTICIPANTS: 

Kevin Alcantara, CHC/Mesa
Jase Bowen, PIT/Salt River
Wes Clarke, MIL/Surprise
Kyle Manzardo, CLE/Peoria

Ivan Melendez, ARI/Salt River

Damiano Palmegiani, TOR/Surprise

Gabriel Rincones Jr., PHI/Scottsdale

Kala'i Rosario, MIN/Glendale

winner - Kala'i Rosario
score – 6-5 final round, 25 total
stadium - Sloan Park

Tour 2023: Mullett Arena

All photos of Mullett Arena available on Flickr.

On Saturday, Erik and I attended our first NHL game together in almost 15 years, which was Game 1 of our first ever two-sport doubleheader.  Not wanting to exercise for a 2nd day in a row, we needed something to fill our morning before the 1:00pm puck drop.  A quick Google search of "Phoenix bars open early morning" landed us at the Yucca Tap Room for some 9:00 AM college football watching.  If you close your eyes and imagine what a sketchy dive bar looks like, this had many of the characteristic traits - very worn down and in need of repair, a host of regular patrons, no drink list, one old grumpy bartender, and the only natural light was from the intermittent opening and closing of the front door made of plywood.  As opposed to all of the establishments we had been visiting in Tempe the previous two days, we felt right at home here.  We stopped for another drink at Fate Brewing down the street and then we were off to the arena, which was literally across the street from our hotel.

From what I knew of the tumultuous history of the Arizona Coyotes franchise, I went into this experience with very low expectations.  They originated after the original Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996, and after a brief period with Wayne Gretzky at the helm, declared bankruptcy in 2009.  Pretty much ever since then, there has been a looming threat of the team moving, with constant ownership changes and aborted sales, many years of low revenue and general futility, and many failed attempts at securing a new arena.  They were even evicted from their last arena in Glendale, which is why they currently play in a 5,000-seat arena that was built for the Arizona State Sun Devils.  So it was a pleasant surprise to walk into a sellout crowd for which we could only manage to procure standing room seats.  There was an electric energy the entire game and the building was loud from puck drop to final horn.  We'll never know if the Coyotes fanbase would have filled a normal sized NHL arena that day, but from what I saw at the game and around town in our 4 days in Phoenix, there is definitely an appetite for hockey in the desert that I was not anticipating.  If an NHL franchise can thrive and succeed like the one in Vegas, I have no doubt that with the right ownership and arena that the Coyotes can too.

The smaller size of Mullett Arena as opposed to a standard NHL arena of 3x that size made this a very unique environment.  I've been to a handful of NHL games, but the bulk of my hockey experience comes from the UW Badgers and Milwaukee Admirals, and even those teams play in considerably larger arenas, so this Coyotes game was like nothing I've ever experienced hockey-wise.  It truly felt like a raucous college crowd and it was cool to be a part of.  The exterior is non-descript, as there are very few windows and it consists of primarily one deck of seats so it is quite short.  The interior is ringed by a concourse on 3 sides that has a 100% open view to the ice.  Concessions are positioned in the 4 corners of the arena only, which really keeps the concourse open for circulation, or in our case, standing at a drink rail to watch the game.  The 4th side of the arena has a large private club area that interrupts the concourse.  The 2nd level features a row of small, intimate suites lining the long ends of the arena, and on one of the short sides is another private party deck.  I always clamor at ballparks about the large amount of private club/suite space versus areas accessible to all, but for them to build that much private space in an arena this small, it must be booked up with sponsors and wealthy benefactors and put to good use for the university.  We wedged into an area behind the goal that the 'Yotes shot at twice, sandwiched between two groups of people that understood absolutely nothing about hockey - some drunk guys from Ireland and some cheerleaders.  I love standing room areas and Erik and I had a blast being a part of the lively crowd.  Outside of eating the sorriest excuse for nachos I've ever seen, I thoroughly enjoyed Mullett Arena, and it was one of the most fun games of the trip.

The Coyotes lost to the new version of the Winnipeg Jets by a score of 5-3.  Arizona jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 1st period on a goal by J.J. Moser, assisted by Lawson Crouse on a nice little 2-on-1 breakaway.  Winnipeg woke up in the 2nd and there were a total of 5 goals scored in that period, and the score was tied 3-3 at the second intermission.  The Jets took the lead for good at 3:23 into the 3rd period on a slap shot by defenseman Brenden Dillon, who was for some reason left all alone on the weak side of the play.  The Coyotes went on the power play with about 5 minutes left in the game and Erik and I were obnoxiously screaming for them to pull the goalie for the 2-man advantage, but it was all for naught and a wasted opportunity.  Erik was excited to see Logan Cooley play for the 'Yotes, who was the #3 overall pick in the 2022 draft out of the University of Minnesota.  He was a relative non-factor in the game with a (-2) and only one shot on goal.

Following the game, we finally hit up the famous Micky's Hot Dogs and downed a couple of much-anticipated Sonoran Hot Dogs, which is an Arizona delicacy typically wrapped in bacon and covered with chilis and mayo, served on a doughy and flaky style of bun.  We paid the price for those the following day, but for now, we proceeded to Mesa with full bellies for game #2 of the day and the final game of our trip.

arena rankings and statistics:
aesthetics - 7 (low marks for exterior but high marks for interior)
view to ice - 9
surrounding area - 7 (ASU campus)
food variety - 3
nachos - 1 (bag of chips and cup o' cheese)
beer - 4
vendor price - 9
ticket price - 3 ($75 for SRO)
atmosphere - 8
walk to arena - 7
parking proximity - n/a
concourses - 4 (not active but points for view to ice)
team shop - 2 (one small team stand)

best food - the pizza looked good
most unique arena feature - being a one-deck college arena
best jumbotron feature - player/game intro
best intermission feature - Howler regales the crowd

starting goalies - Connor Hellebuyck (WPG) v. Karel Vejmelka (ARI)
Three Stars of the game - (1) Nino Niederreiter - WPG, (2) Brenden Dillon - WPG, (3) Lawson Crouse - ARI
opponent - Winnipeg Jets
attendance - 4600
score - 5-3 L
Admirals score that day - 2-1 L

Tour 2023: Surprise Stadium

All photos of Surprise Stadium available on Flickr.

Erik and I made the joke on the way out to Surprise that the city must have gotten its name from the town's founder saying "Surprise, there's more Phoenix!"  The story of Surprise is not unlike any other Phoenix suburb - it started as little more than a tiny agricultural/industrial village on the outskirts, saw modest grown up until the turn of the century, and has now ballooned to a city of nearly 150,000 people.  Surprise Stadium is right at the center of that growth, opening in late 2002 and seating over 10,000 people.  The stadium has been the Spring Training home of the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers since its inception, and followed only a couple of years later with the first incarnation of the Surprise AFL team, now known as the Saguaros.  We arrived at about 6:00pm for a 6:30 first pitch and purchased our customary $12 GA tickets as we have been at every other AFL game.

Out of all the parks I was visiting for the first time on this trip, Surprise was my favorite one.  Perhaps I was unfairly swayed by the amazing sunset as we arrived, or the calm cool breeze, but it was a very welcoming ballpark to arrive to.  It has a very enchanting courtyard with a lone mature tree at its center, with the entry point arranged in a concave shape around the courtyard set between two towers to draw you in.  There is a ring of baseball-shaped bollards around the street side of the courtyard to complete the circle, and it all makes for one of the better thought out entry sequences in the Cactus League/AFL.  When we made our way through the gate, I immediately noticed that we were entering through the outfield which is something I normally detest, but then I noticed there is a nearly identical entry sequence in the left field corner.  This gives the park a beautiful symmetry which gives the outfield entries a purpose and design intent.  We were greeted by a bosque of the Saguaros' namesake plants, and made our way down the right field line towards home plate.  On the street side of the concourse is a sort of pavilion for a lack of a better term that I'm guessing holds team offices, and it reminded me a lot of the center field pavilion at the old Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.  Again, this same type of pavilion exists in the opposite corner to reinforce the symmetry, with the RF pavilion being the Rangers side and LF being the Royals side.  As you move from the outfield toward the infield, you walk under the suite level above the concourse, and I can only imagine that the balconies overhanging the suites coupled with an array of open concession stands would make this feel like a lively pedestrian street at a crowded Spring Training game.  On this night, it just served to make me feel snug and welcomed, just as many of the details at the park do.  The relatively short lower bowl of only 15-20 rows adds to that snugness as well.  You feel like the upper deck is right on top of you when you're sitting in the lower bowl, which is a pretty cool feeling at a park of this size.  This is the only park I ate an actual meal at this week, and I had a pretty sorry excuse of a "Manager's Special" which consisted of two tiny chicken strips served on a mound of barely-cooked tater tots that have probably been sitting in the back of a freezer since March.  A 24-oz Coors Banquet quickly remedied that, and we settled into the 3rd row for the night's action.

Stadium aside, this was the ballgame I was looking forward to the most of the week as the Surprise team features Brewers prospects on it.  Three different Brewers strapped 'em on in this game in the 5-2 victory over the visiting Salt River Rafters.  Wes Clarke was actually drafted twice by the Crew and signed as a 10th round pick in 2021.  He got the start at first base and hit cleanup, and he went 1-3 with a walk.  As of that game, he was tied for the AFL lead with 5 homeruns, but he has since been surpassed.  This is on top of the 26 bombs he notched in Biloxi this year, so hopefully he can hone that power threat for the big league club someday.  Adam Seminaris and Justin Yeager both tossed a scoreless inning apiece from the mound as well.  Both of them were picked up in trades this past offseason - Seminaris in the Hunter Renfroe deal, and Yeager in the William Contreras deal.  Unfortunately Brewers shortstop prospect and 2022 1st round pick Eric Brown Jr. did not play in this game, but he has been turning a lot of heads in the Fall League by all accounts.  Trent Palmer of the Blue Jays organization got the start for Surprise and was the only pitcher we saw all week go more than 3 innings.  He gave up 2 runs over 3.2, but that was still good enough as Surprise put up a 3-spot in the 1st against the Rafters' Dylan Smith (Tigers).  We joked that there were zero Reds or Rockies prospects that got in the game for Surprise or Salt River, so I'm glad we are not fans of those particular teams.

Following the brisk game, we had a drive of over an hour back to Tempe, and we unsuccessfully tried to pretend we were young again at a bar on ASU campus before calling it a night.

park rankings and statistics:

aesthetics - 8
views from park - 2
view to field - 9 (all seats very close)
surrounding area - 1 (single family homes and vacant land)
food variety - 6
nachos - 5
beer - 7
vendor price - 8
ticket price - 9
atmosphere - 6
walk to park - 5
parking price/proximity - 10 (adjacent lot for free)
concourses - 8
team shop - 5

kids area - n/a

best food - anything but the "Manager's Special"
most unique stadium feature - entry/outfield pavilions
best jumbotron feature - n/a

best between-inning feature - n/a

field dimensions - 350/400/350

starters - Dylan Smith (SR) v. Trent Palmer (SUR)
opponent - Salt River Rafters
time of game - 2:24
attendance - 385
score - 5-2 W

Tour 2023: Peoria Sports Complex

All photos of Papago Park and Peoria Sports Complex available on Flickr.

Friday was our first of two consecutive doubleheaders, as we would be seeing 4 games in 2 different sports in the span of about 30 hours.  But I'm proud of the fact that, even with all of the ballgames we cram into our trips, we always still make time to explore the area we're staying a little bit.  We spent Friday morning hiking around Papago Park, which is a massive municipal park spanning nearly 1500 acres across Phoenix and Tempe.  It is a vast desert landscape with red sandstone as far as the eye can see and various hills and geological formations to climb, including the famous Hole-in-the-Rock landmark which we traversed to the top of.  The park also includes the Phoenix Zoo, the home of Sandra Day O'Connor, and Hunt's Tomb (all of which we somehow missed), but it was a breathtaking couple of hours that made me all too aware just how badly out of shape I am.  We grabbed a quick shower and a lunch after our hike and were off to Peoria for a 2:30pm start.

To put it bluntly, Peoria Sports Complex is the worst ballpark in the Cactus League/AFL in my opinion.  It opened for business in 1994, so in its hey-day it served a good 10-year run as the newest park in the circuit and the first shared team complex in the Valley.  Nearly 30 years later and the park now pales in comparison to all of the other new and renovated complexes that have passed it by.  The exterior is very off-putting with a lot of weird angles, lots of desert-colored EIFS, and not that many vantage points to see inside.  It is ringed by a circular road all the way around, so I thought it was cool you could essentially see the entire exterior of the stadium from your car before parking, but there wasn't much to see whether on foot or in a car.  Once inside, it is the type of park where the concourse is behind the grandstand at grade level and you have to walk through tunnels to emerge to the seating bowl.  This type of setup is always a big clue to when a park was built, and while it can be charming in very old parks, it's very antiquated in a park that is younger than me.  The seating bowl was very forgettable but we did appreciate that it was separated into essentially 3 tiers/levels to provide some shade and a variety of seating options.  We found the seats themselves to be very stiff and uncomfortable and likely would have spent our day at the Sam Adams bar/party deck up on the 3rd tier, but not surprisingly that was closed for an AFL game.  What the park lacked in pizzazz it did make up for in atmosphere, as this was by far the most well attended game of the week with over 600 people.  The Javelinas seem to have a lot of day games in the AFL while most teams play 6:30pm starts, and I suspect the reason is due to the fact that this stadium gets used for so many events year round, including the Vans Warped Tour.  There were ads for many of these of events on the jumbotron between innings.  Peoria seemed to be one of the nicer cities of the Cactus League/AFL circuit with one of the livelier central business districts, so it is clear that they take great pride in the team and stadium here, but exploring the downtown would be the only reason I ever go back to Peoria if and when I make it back out for Spring Training.

Peoria beat the Mesa Solar Sox by a score of 8-7, with Marlins prospect Jacob Berry hitting the game-winning sac fly in the 8th.  I recognized Berry from when I visited Beloit back in June and he had a nice little day with 2 RBI and solid defense at 3rd base.  There were several big name prospects in this game.  Kevin Alcantara, a Cubs top prospect, went 2-5 with a booming triple.  Max Muncy (not that Max Muncy - the A's prospect) went hitless on the day for Mesa as well.  Chase DeLauter and Kyle Manzardo, both Guardians prospects, batted 1-2 for the Javelinas and went a combined 1-8.  We had never of Shane Sasaki, but he was one of the players that Erik and I were the most impressed with.  He was a 3rd round pick of the Rays a few years ago and had 3 hits, 3 RBI, and 2 steals out of the 9-hole for Peoria.  He's only in A-ball in his 4th year in the minors so we'll see if he ends up being another classic diamond in the rough for Tampa Bay.  Nobody really stood out pitching wise as this was a back-and-forth affair all day.  There were only 2 innings in the entire game in which a run was not scored by either team.

Following the Javelinas win, with the sun setting in front of us, we drove even further west to the very outskirts of the Phoenix metro area to Surprise for game #2 of our doubleheader.

park rankings and statistics:

aesthetics - 2
views from park - 5 (can see the mountains from the upper tiers)
view to field - 8 (older park means less safety netting)
surrounding area - 8
food variety - 5 (I am judging all concessions based on average compared to other AFL games - not everything you would find at a Cactus League game was offered)
nachos - 5
beer - 6
vendor price - 8
ticket price - 9
atmosphere - 7
walk to park - 1
parking price/proximity - 10 (adjacent lot for free)
concourses - 2
team shop - 5

kids area - 8 (one of the only parks I saw that actually had one)

best food - hot dog (most parks only sold dogs, nachos, and peanuts)
most unique stadium feature - 3 seating tiers
best jumbotron feature - ads for other Peoria Sports Complex events

best between-inning feature - n/a

field dimensions - 340/410/340

starters - Nick Hull (MES) v. Ross Carver (PEO)
opponent - Mesa Solar Sox
time of game - 2:53
attendance - 635
score - 8-7 W

Tour 2023: Camelback Ranch (AFL)

All photos of Arizona State University and Camelback Ranch available on Flickr.

My Thursday began with a way too early wakeup call due to the 2-hour time change and just generally not knowing how to sleep in anymore.  I took advantage of this extra time in my day by enjoying the weather before the desert sun got too hot.  I took a nice relaxing swim in our luxurious rooftop pool, grabbed a shower and a coffee, and then took a nice long stroll around the Arizona State campus.  Our hotel was right in the middle of ASU and across the street from some of their major sport venues - so close in fact that the visiting Stonehill College men's hockey team was staying at our hotel.  It was a beautiful campus and a peaceful walk, and I enjoyed analyzing what architecture looks like in a hot and arid climate while also trying to remember what it was like to be in college.  I picked up Erik at the airport around 11am, and not surprisingly he also wanted to take a dip in the pool.  By this time however, it was packed to the gills with teenage hockey bros, so after a few minutes we got dressed and hit up a couple of breweries before our ballgame that evening.  Four Peaks Brewing Company had some delicious food and we also thoroughly enjoyed Pedal Haus Brewery's outdoor space.

Our first game together of the trip was in Glendale for a 6:30pm first pitch.  It was quite a stark contrast from nearly 50,000 people at Chase Field the night before to generously 100 people in Glendale.  This was my third visit to Camelback Ranch and I've had wildly different experiences all 3 times.  The first time was when I was young and untethered on a scorching hot day with Phil in 2011, the second time was with my wife and 1-year old daughter, and this visit was on a cool and eerily quiet night for a Fall League game.  All three visits have netted the same result, and that is that Camelback Ranch was and remains my favorite Cactus League/AFL park.  It's admittedly hard to judge the merits and ambiance of a stadium in this league given the low attendance and laid-back atmosphere, so I'm glad I had been to Camelback before in a Spring Training environment.  But this was the only AFL park of the week that I had already been to, so it was interesting to contrast the two leagues.  Spectators at the Cactus League are really just looking to get out of whatever cold weather state they live in, get ripped, and have good time while seeing a few familiar faces.  The Arizona Fall League is not for the faint of heart and it truly meant for those few dedicated fans that are really up on their farm systems and are keen to all of the subtle nuances of the game.  Most of the parks only keep one concession stand and one small souvenir stand open and the focus is entirely on the game.  It offered Erik and I a lot of time to just relax and talk baseball and not having to stress about much of anything.  About half of the people in attendance at this game were scouts, and also Tony LaRussa was there for some reason.  He was trying to go incognito by wearing a backwards cap and being sober, but I still found him in the sea of the 12 people in our section.  The one bummer of AFL versus a Cactus League game is that the back complexes were all closed and only the main stadium was open, but nonetheless it was great to be back at Camelback Ranch again.

The Glendale Desert Dogs walked off the Peoria Javelinas with a grand slam in the 9th inning to complete a 9-5 victory.  Glendale and Peoria are two of six teams in this league, and each of the 6 teams is represented by prospects from 5 major league clubs, usually with a minimum of 6 guys from every club.  The types of prospects that get sent to this league typically range from players who were just drafted, to big name prospects that are getting a reward for a good season, or sometimes it is just a minor leaguer that may have been hurt or scuffling a lot of the year and the parent club wants to see them get some more work.  There was a wide array of all these types in the game, as the player ages ranged from teenagers all the way to 27, and from Low-A all the way to AAA.  This game represented a bullpen game of sorts for both teams, as the starters only went 2.1 and 3 innings respectively.  Kala'i Rosario was the star of the night and also one of the most impressive players of the entire weekend.  He is currently in High-A for the Twins and crushed a 2nd inning homer, and he would later go on to win the AFL Homerun Derby on Saturday - more on that in a later post.  There were a total of 5 homeruns in the game, including the walk-off slam by Bryan Ramos of the White Sox organization.  It was his 4th bomb of the year and he had an .833 OPS as of this game.  One of the bigger names in the game and the highest ranked prospect was Colson Montgomery of the White Sox/Desert Dogs.  He went 1-3 with 2 RBI out of the 3-hole.

After the game, we enjoyed a night cap at a nearby Twin Peaks, which is kind of like a classy Hooters.  Mostly we went there because we assumed Mr. LaRussa would be there, but he must wisely do all of his drinking at home these days.  We had one of our many long drives back to Tempe from the western edge of the PHX metro area, and rested up for a long day on Friday.

park rankings and statistics - unchanged
(see last post from 03/11/19)

starters - Patrick Wicklander (PEO) v. Josimar Cousin (GLE)
opponent - Peoria Javelinas
time of game - 2:36
attendance - 198
score - 9-5 W

Tour 2023: World Series

All photos of Tempe and Chase Field available on Flickr.

Our first Tour trip in our 40s and our first ever ballgames attended in the month of November occurred in the Phoenix area this past week.  We finally crossed off a long-standing bucket list item in the Arizona Fall League and had a great trip crammed full of ball like usual, seeing a total of 6 games in the span of about 72 hours.  As we started planning this year's trip, I knew I needed to hit my three remaining ballparks of the Cactus/AFL circuit - Peoria, Surprise, and Sloan Park.  We also wanted to make sure to see either a Coyotes NHL game or an Arizona State hockey game, as well as one of the "jewel" AFL events - Fall Stars Game/Derby, Championship, etc.  So when the original schedule was released in July, we quickly landed on a weekend where all of those things could be achieved in one trip.  The only caveat was that Peoria and Surprise were both only home on a Wednesday, and Erik was not able to fly in any earlier than Thursday, so I decided to book a flight a day earlier just for myself.  The schedule ended up changing in August so it became a moot point, but by that point I had already booked everything, so I decided to still fly in on Wednesday solo.  Then a few weeks went by, and the Cinderella season of the Arizona Diamondbacks started to unfold.  They clinched a playoff spot on the last day of the regular season, very easily swept the Brewers in the first round, sacked the mighty Dodgers, and it was around this time that I started to think "Holy crap, I might actually get to see the D-Backs in the World Series if they can keep this up."  I just so happened to be landing in Phoenix on the day of Game 5 and managed to snag one $300 upper deck ticket when they were down 2-0 to the Phillies in the NLCS and things were looking grim.  The rest as they say is history, and I can now count myself among the lucky fans who have attended a World Series game!  Even though I had no vested interest in the D-Backs other than wanting to see a World Series game, it was so fun to root for a team all the way throughout the playoffs and it made watching this year's postseason very special and exciting for me.  I was sad that Erik could not go along to this historic event with me, but the stars had aligned, and it was an opportunity I could not pass up.

I landed around 1:00pm local time, quickly picked up our rental car and checked into our hotel, and then I was off to the ballpark.  Gates opened 3 hours before first pitch for the World Series, and I wanted to be there as early as possible.  In lieu of navigating downtown gameday traffic and paying a million dollars for parking, I decided to take the Valley Metro light rail for $4 round trip.  I picked up the train about a 10 minute walk from our hotel on the Arizona State campus in Tempe, and it dropped me off literally right across the street from Chase Field.  It could not have been more convenient and I was shocked that a city as big as Phoenix had such a well-functioning transit system.  I finally got into the stadium just before 3pm for a 5:03 first pitch, and it was already packed for what would be a wild 5 hours ahead of me.

My initial reaction when I got into the ballpark was that it was a lot nicer than I remembered from my last visit in 2007.  However, a lot of that reaction can be attributed to the sellout playoff atmosphere and the fact that the roof was open, both rarities at Chase Field.  When I took the crowd and the roof out of the equation, it was about what I remembered, namely that it is very similar to American Family Field.  All these years for some reason I thought the two ballparks were designed by the same architect, but the internet it telling me that is not the case, so it makes the similarities all the more remarkable.  It has the same outfield setup and infrastructure necessary to hold up the roof, the major difference being that the roof in Phoenix slides open as a two-panel door, and in Milwaukee the roof opens like a fan.  This means that Chase Field is inherently more angular and rectilinear.  It has the same 3-tiered party deck setup in right field and the restaurant in left field, which 16 years ago was a TGIF just like when Miller Park opened and is now called "Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers."  It has the same large centered jumbotron, albeit this one looks like it has not been updated since the park opened.  The concourses have a very similar look and feel and they even sell Miller Lite.  The major difference to Chase Field is just that it has nothing aesthetically interesting or memorable about it.  The exterior is a gigantic ugly mostly windowless box and there are no sort of unique nodes or areas in the ballpark of any kind.  If you were to meet somebody at this ballpark who had never been there before, it would really difficult to finish the sentence "Meet me by the ____."  I do appreciate that there is a lot of outfield seating, something that AmFam lacks.  Chase Field is in that sort of middle tier of ballparks - not super old, not super new, but right in that middle "was cutting edge 20 years ago but could use a major facelift" category, similar to the ones that Progressive Field, Kauffman Stadium, and Rogers Centre have all gotten in the last decade.  The Diamondbacks have been in an ongoing fight with Maricopa County for many years now over much needed stadium upgrades and repairs and who is paying for them, so it will be interesting to see if Chase Field is around for much longer.  Based on what I saw on Wednesday, the D-Backs would be foolish to give up their prime downtown location, whether that is in a new ballpark or an extensively remodeled one.

After a few laps and reacquainting myself with Chase Field, I took in some BP from behind home plate and then I got my eagerly awaited World Series merchandise.  The D-Backs actually had a nice little set up where they had a plethora of very small merch stands that only sold about 10 things each, and you stood in line and just told the cashier what you wanted and they grabbed it for you.  It really alleviated a lot of unnecessary congestion for people that were all probably buying the same program and ball that I was.  Following the team store, I inhaled what was probably the best meal I ate for the entire trip - nachos loaded with queso, chicken, and cornbread crumbles, served in a giant foil pan.  As I watched my body swell up from ingesting a week's worth of sodium, I made my way up to my seat in the 12th row in the RF corner of the upper deck to settle in for first pitch.

Words can't even really describe the atmosphere and electricity of the ballpark for a World Series game.  It would be like trying to describe an ocean or a sunset.  I actually had to turn my phone off for most of the game because it was nearly dead by about 3:30, and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  I was able to just be fully present and immerse myself in the game, with no texting or pictures for a few hours, and just live in the moment - something I think we all struggle with these days.  If my phone was on, I also surely would have been non-stop texting Erik and reminding him that he passed up the opportunity to be at a World Series game that started with 6 no-hit innings.  I'm pretty sure he would have stopped being my friend if Zac Gallen actually finished the no-hitter, but alas it was not meant to be as the D-Backs ended up losing 5-0, thus losing the World Series to the visiting Texas Rangers.  Gallen was masterful but just got left in a few hitters too long, giving up 3 hits and a run in the 7th inning.  Corey Seager cemented his World Series MVP award by breaking up the no-hitter in the 7th and chipping in another hit and a walk on a 2-4 night.  Marcus Semien put the game out of reach with a 2-run bomb in the 9th, which landed just in front of me after I moved to the outfield for the final inning.  I turned my phone on for one final gasp and just enough juice to record the Rangers celebrating on the field.  I was very impressed with how well the D-Backs fans showed up even in the loss.  Almost everybody in the stands remained until the very last pitch and they were loud for the entire game.

Normally the first night of our trips are the nights Erik and I imbibe way too hard, but since I was there myself on Wednesday, it was straight back to the hotel for me after a long 26-hour day following the time change.  It was weird to think that the World Series was really just an appetizer for our trip, and I went to bed pumped to see my friend in the morning and start the main course.

updated park rankings and statistics
(see original post from 08/21/07):
aesthetics - 5
views from park - 2
view to field - 7
surrounding area - 5
food variety - 6
nachos - improves to 10 (some of the best ballpark nachos I've ever had)
beer - 5
vendor price - 7
ticket price - decreases to 8
atmosphere - improves to 9
walk to park - improves to 5
parking price/proximity - 8
concourses - decreases to 5
team shop - 7
kids area - n/a

best food - nachos with queso, chicken, and cornbread crumbles
most unique stadium feature - pool in right-center
best jumbotron feature - D-Backs postseason highlights
best between-inning feature - Legends Race

field dimensions - 330/407/334

starting lineups -
Texas Rangers
Marcus Semien (2B)
Corey Seager (SS)
Evan Carter (LF)
Mitch Garver (DH)
Josh Jung (3B)
Nathaniel Lowe (1B)
Jonah Heim (C)
Leody Taveras (CF)
Travis Jankowski (RF)
Nathan Eovaldi (P)
Arizona Diamondbacks
Corbin Carroll (RF)
Ketel Marte (2B)
Gabriel Moreno (C)
Christian Walker (1B)
Tommy Pham (DH)
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (LF)
Alek Thomas (CF)
Evan Longoria (3B)
Geraldo Perdomo (SS)
Zac Gallen (P)

time of game - 2:54
attendance - 48511
score - 5-0 L (TEX wins series 4-1)

FINAL 2023 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 8
Peter - 27